Part of the London Trust Media group, Private Internet Access (PIA) has long been a benchmark VPN solution. The service has undergone diverse changes to keep up with competitors since its launch in 2010, ensuring its high quality hasn’t changed.
The Private Internet Access VPN allows users to browse the internet anonymously using several encryption and privacy tools to guarantee total security on unlimited devices. Suitable for users of any ability, Private Internet Access offers an abundance of servers in over 90 countries and even reserves special servers for streaming. Plus, the service’s platform has a unique and simplified design, making its extensive customization as easy as pie.
The VPN service rewards committed clients who opt for longer plans while also letting newcomers get a risk-free taster of the product with its 7-day free trial (on the mobile app) and 30-day money-back guarantee.
| Bandwidth | Unlimited |
|---|---|
| # connected devices | Unlimited |
| Kill switch |
Private Internet Access is an intuitive service that is suitable for both beginners and experienced VPN users. Someone looking for a simple ‘connect and go’ experience will find just that, as the software automatically suggests the best server for a smoother and faster experience. Moreover, user interaction can be kept to a minimum thanks to the compact app only displaying the connect button, country, and IP addresses.
However, Private Internet Access also suits users who like to customize their experience in fine detail. The VPN network list displays the expected ping for each location, and it’s possible to alter numerous connection settings. Private Internet Access also allows port-forwarding and offers plenty of additional tools, such as an ad blocker, a classic and advanced kill switch, and an email breach monitor.
A clean interface goes a long way toward making a service popular, as most customers want simple apps that require no in-depth knowledge to set up. However, privacy enthusiasts want complete control to play with the settings of the program they’ve just purchased.
The settings page is a playground for experienced users. Connection protocols, encryption levels, and automation rules are only some of the options available for tweaking. Other highlights are the ability to use split tunneling, port forwarding, and to set personal proxy preferences (Shadowsocks or SOCKS5).
Less critical but still indicative of Private Internet Access's exhaustive customization options is the ability to personalize its interface, such as choosing between light and dark themes, the dashboard’s appearance, different tray icons, and more. The trade-off is that less tech-savvy users might take a while to become comfortable navigating the apps.
For those who enjoy watching international TV and movies, Private Internet Access unblocks many geo-restricted streaming services like Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and the UK’s ITV. Over the past few years, its Netflix libraries have increased to include the U.S., Italy, UK, Japan, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.
Helping to tackle the typical difficulties that users face while streaming with a VPN, Private Internet Access offers dedicated streaming-optimized servers. Unfortunately, these are only available for the U.S., UK, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and Australia.
| Countries | US, UK, CA, AU, JP, ZA, DE, RO, AE… |
|---|---|
| # countries | 90+ |
| # servers | 16,000+ |
| # IPs | 25+ |
Private Internet Access stands out when it comes to the number of servers available. Even though there’s always room for improvement, users should be thrilled with these numbers since they cover most of the world.
The software also provides a predicted latency for each location, which is an excellent way to determine which server is the best, even if it’s not the closest to the user’s actual location. We tested this VPN’s speed performance from Europe, with a baseline speed of 642 Mpbs for downloads, and 208 Mpbs for upload.
| Location | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington, U.S. | 496 | 85.3 | 101 |
| Madrid, Spain | 554 | 197 | 15 |
| Paris, France | 556 | 170 | 35 |
The results were outstanding, especially for downloads, with an average download speed loss of only 17%. This makes Private Internet Access one of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested so far. For uploads, the results weren’t as good but still acceptable with speed loss of 28%. Latency-wise, Private Internet Access also offers excellent results, primarily for the closest servers.
On top of this, Private Internet Access is reliable regarding DNS and other traffic leaks. There were no problems of this nature across all our tests, meaning that user privacy is 100% guaranteed.
| SSL | |
|---|---|
| OpenVPN | |
| PPTP | |
| L2TP |
A company named Private Internet Access must live up to its name, and the truth is that it doesn’t disappoint. Private Internet Access is a safe VPN to use that allows users edit a great range of connection settings, including privacy-related ones. Data encryption includes AES 128-bit and AES 256-bit protocols with SHA256 authentication, for instance.
Private Internet Access also provides two kill switches, with the advanced version able to prevent leaks even when the VPN is turned off. There’s also MACE, a tool that’s essentially an ad blocker, which works by blocking IP domains used for ads, trackers, and malware. Unfortunately, some ads were able to slip through during our tests, so there’s some room for improvement here.
Private Internet Access is transparent about how it handles user data and states that it follows a no-logs policy, meaning that none of your private data, such as IP addresses, browsing history, or even VPN session timestamps, is stored.
Private Internet Access is available for all operating systems except for ChromeOS, such as Windows (8.1 onwards), macOS (from 10.13), and Linux (Ubuntu 18.04, Mint, Fedora, Arch, and Debian onwards). On mobile, it’s available for Android (from 5.1) and iOS (12.1 onwards). The interface design is similar across all platforms, as are the features provided.
The company also provides browser extensions for Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and manual OpenVPN configuration files. It’s also accessible on Smart TVs for a high-speed streaming experience. Plus, users can enjoy lag-free gaming and privacy protection for consoles, namely Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
Furthermore, the VPN is available for routers to help protect all connected devices on an office or home network. It suggests clients avoid ISP routers, which allow monitoring of browsing history and aren’t VPN compatible. Instead, the company recommends purchasing a router with a preinstalled VPN, perfect for network-wide protection.
To work towards its promise of affordability, the company has eliminated its device cap, meaning users can enjoy unlimited device connections carefree, which is a huge plus point.
| Lowest price | $2.03/mo |
| Free trial | 7 days |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 Day(s) |
| Free version |
Private Internet Access VPN costs a mere $2.06 per month with a 2-year subscription ($56.94 in total) and includes two months for free, representing an 82% discount over the $7.50 monthly plan. Between these two options is the 6-month plan at $7.50 per month, which represents a saving of 38% on the monthly plan.
Considering all the features it provides, Private Internet Access's prices are very competitive. The icing on the cake is that the 6-month and 2-year plans include one year of 500GB of cloud storage with pCloud.
Should users require extra security, there are two add-ons that can be purchased: antivirus software for Windows and an exclusive IP address. Moreover, the company also has its own VPN router for the more privacy-conscious out there.
Unfortunately it’s not possible to use Private Internet Access for free, but it offers a 7-day free trial for curious cats with Android and iOS devices, helping them learn more about the software before committing to a long-term subscription. Plus, customers can try the software risk free by taking advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee.
Private Internet Access also has a referral program that offers up to 30 free days for both parties involved. Plus, to maximize savings for larger businesses, Private Internet Access provides a bulk purchase option, where multiple accounts can be purchased at a discounted rate.
The company offers a long list of payment methods, which includes PayPal, credit cards, Amazon payments, cryptocurrency, gift cards, and more.
| 24/7 | |
| Live chat | |
| Phone |
Every company knows that an excellent product must have great customer support, and Private Internet Access doesn’t disappoint here either with its 24/7 assistance. Queries are answered promptly by email, and agents addressed our urgent concerns quickly over the live chat. Furthermore, both Private Internet Access's VPN FAQ and blog explain the more basic queries.
Private Internet Access offers a support page featuring several guides, a news portal, and a knowledge base with billing, technical support, security best practices, and more. Additionally, a community page lets users make suggestions and request new servers. Along with its comprehensive YouTube channel, the company is active on Facebook, X, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
Using Private Internet Access is a positive experience, especially for advanced users, due its extensive set of customizable settings. Potential clients can enjoy Private Internet Access for free through its 7-day mobile trial or use the software for 30 days with its risk-free money-back guarantee.
It boasts impressive speed performance with stable connections and minimal loss for downloads and uploads. Plus, the service guarantees total privacy and anonymity with no DNS leaks when browsing by using complex data encryption tools.
Private Internet Access is clearly in the highest tier of the VPN market. Even though it might not be the best option for users with less technological knowledge, those looking for strong performance and connections can trust Private Internet Access VPN.
The Best Reviews team researches and tests all products first-hand. We've been reviewing products and services since 2012 and are proud to only publish human-created content.
September 2024
30 days money back guarantee is a lie and a scam. They dont offer port forwarding like they advertised, so I immidiatelly deinstalled it and asked for my money back. Customer service first tried to play out me with requesting various codes, transaction codes and similar. After I have provided them all of the codes, transactions they just stopped responding to my emails. I tried several times to reach them, but no success, they just stole my money.
October 2019
I was charged $69.41 and tried to change password, to no avail. Tired of dealing with PIA. Thought I was a loyal Customer. Cannot call and talk to any one and the internet keeps looping to reset password. If this is customer support I don’t won’t any part of it. Just lost my money. To Angry to Cuss.
July 2018
I’ve been a long time PIA subscriber. They were a good value with fast servers and okay support when I first signed up several years ago. But in the last two years they started going down hill, and in recent months in particular it’s been an utter fiasco. Buggy software with unreliable kill switch. DNS leaks. PIA’s Mac app hacks OS X and takes down your firewall (on purpose). Terrible if not non-existent support that gets worse by the day. Always the same excuse of a “temporary backlog” but in two years they’ve never caught up on the backlog. Hundreds upon hundreds of customer complaints posted on their forums and reddit channel about support tickets never being responded to, including requests for refunds on the so-called money back guarantee. PIA has gone from a good vpn to one of the worst, much of it probably due to poorly managed growth. Way too much money spent on marketing and none on hiring new support people to accommodate all the new customers. Company morale appears very low as evidenced by all the competent support people having quit and those being replaced by ignorant ones. On top of everything else they recently appointed Mark Karpeles as their CTO, the same Mark Karpeles of Mt. Gox fame who “lost” $480 million of their customers’ bitcoins, while at the same time $2.3 million mysteriously materialized in his personal bitcoin wallet. Karpeles is under arrest and awaiting trial in Japan for fraud and embezzlement. Even if he’s ultimately acquitted it’s hard to reconcile how PIA could appoint such a bungler (if not a con artist) to be in charge of their security when he presided over one of the biggest online security breaches in history. With that brilliant decision PIA has more than earned my distrust. Moved on to a trustworthy VPN.
October 2017
I have used PIA for 2 years. Main complaint is that the secure connection keeps dropping to regular. The only way I know is on windows the green icon turns red. On Apple its worse. It is always gray but there is a checkmark when connected but the difference between the icons is hard to see. I emailed customer support 10 days back tonask about the dropped VON and received a reply that they are busier than normal. 10 days later: no response. I plan to switch providers
July 2017
Why do they not have a phone number? When submitting a ticket, their Website always says they are very busy. OK, I understand. But why don’t they respond to tickets?????????????????//
August 2014
I don’t know how PIA compares with a bunch of other VPNs. I know it works every time I go to use it and it’s fast enough to watch online sport from the US and UK, so in that respect, it does exactly what I want from it. It would be great if it had a few more hubs – I can’t see myself ever wanting to be proxied into Romania or Hong Kong… but Australia or NZ would be nice.
May 2013
I use Private Internet Access and it is much better than Snitch My Ass.
March 2013
I used Privateinternetaccess for about two months. I was considering purchasing a year subscription when one day they charged my account and then later that day discontinued my account for non payment. I contacted them and they stated that they would give me a month of service to make up for what I had already paid for. I advised them that I wanted to purchase a year subscription and was told that there was “no way they could apply that amount to a years subscription”. I replied that if they could not accommodate such a simple request that I would prefer a refund instead. I was then advised that they would need the exact time of the transaction, account number, and personal contact info. I supplied this information within two weeks and was told that I was no longer eligible for a refund. My bank has become involved and the issue is pending. It’s only $6, but that’s not the point. The best thing about this experience is I am now using BolehVPN and it is much faster. Thank you PIA for having POS customer service. If not for that, I may have been stuck with you for a year.
December 2012
PIA gives my peace of mind while browsing the web from a coffee shop, my preferred workingspace. I haven’t had any security or privacy threats yet, but I simply feel safer using a VPN to get my cyberspacing going. Haven’t tried any of their foreign VPN’s yet, I’m always using the closest UK or European VPN available to enjoy maximum speed. Totally worth the 40 bucks.
December 2012
I’ve been using my Private internet access VPN on both my Windows notebook and iPhone for a couple of weeks now and am very happy with the service. Their PC client is nice and easy to use, the speed of the connection is very decent.
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